Reflections!

Alissa in the "dance off". Go girl!

Hi everyone! I wanted to take some time to share with you some of my reflections of the 2012 National Youth Gathering in New Orleans. First of all I would like to thank all of the youth who "Showed Up" and fully participated in all of the activities the leaders had planned for the week. I know it was a very busy and packed schedule but I pray each of the youth saw God in many of the places, events, and faces of the people while we served there. I also would like to thank the parents of the youth who have raised some nice young Christian youth. It was my pleasure to serve with them the entire week. I pray each of the parents will see a more faithful child in their homes as long as they live there. All of this could not have happened without the sacrifice of 4 adult leaders who accompanied Pastor and I. Stefanie, Suzi, Margi, and Alex all did a tremendous job of encouraging the youth to be open to what God had in store for them. Finally, I would like to thank God for all of the provisions he gave to this team of people. From the generosity of our congregational members, to the travel planning of Diane Lowe, to Him being obviously present at each activity and every moment. Thank You Lord for you being our Savior!

Youth with the House Band

The first reflection I have to share today is the reaction of the youth to the larger church and the other 33,309 youth who worshipped with us during the week. Many of the youth were overwhelmed by the openness and acceptance of everyone attending. Seeing the youth openly high-five and talk with other youth they had never meet before was awesome. The youth repeatedly told it is was so nice just to be able to be theirselves and not worry about having to put on a mask of who they thought they should be. I hope God taught them the lesson of being accepted for who THEY are and to be able to accept others for who they are. The pressures of living up to other people expectations of who they "should be" is very difficult for the youth of today. This pressure comes from parents, peers, friends, church members, and others and can be overwhelming. I pray this experience will help them cope with this pressure and give them the ability to help others overcome the pressures of being a perfect person.

Keep coming back to this Blog as I will continue to share thoughts, stories, and reflections as they come to me.